MAN SHOT IN CLASH WITH DEPUTY PLEADS NOT GUILTY

Vista 
A 20-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to assault on a Vista sheriff’s deputy and other charges after he was shot last week during a struggle in which authorities said he grabbed the deputy’s Taser and fired it at her.

Vista resident Anthony Fernando Garcia body-slammed the deputy on to the concrete outside the laundry room of an apartment complex in unincorporated Vista, Deputy District Attorney Laurie Hauf said. The deputy suffered a concussion, Hauf said Tuesday.

Garcia was arraigned Friday in a room at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was awaiting surgery to remove the bullet, Hauf said.

He faces up to five years in custody if found guilty of all the charges, which also include taking a peace officer’s weapon while resisting arrest, the District Attorney’s Office said.

The deputy was checking on a report that a person was under the influence of alcohol at the complex when she found four men, including Garcia, smoking marijuana in the laundry room, authorities said.

Hauf said that Garcia, who had misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest, refused to comply with the deputy, and instead body-slammed her. The incident happened just before 8 p.m. on May 22.

Garcia wrested the Taser from the deputy’s hands and fired it at her but missed, authorities said. The deputy then shot Garcia.

The deputy, identified Tuesday by the Sheriff’s Department as Michelle Storms, was treated at a hospital and released. A member of the department for two years, Storms is on paid leave and has not returned to work.

Garcia’s misdemeanor warrants were for unrelated charges of vandalism, petty theft and being under the influence of drugs.